The Palatka daily news. (Palatka, Fla.) 1884-1888, 1887-04-29

NAM WHICH. Win the other correspond
ence. this journal was the first to pub
lish. Below We give Ex-Gov. Drew 5
answer, which was furnished To the
Jacksonville papers night before last and
was published in the Jacksonville Morn
ing Ne'"S. not appearing in the Times
Union
EN-GON. DREW = LETTER.
tAN OPEN LETTER.
JACKSONVILLE. FLA. April 2.th. lSS.
Hon. ". u. HloNham. Tallahassee. Fla
DEAR SIR: Yours of the 22d in reply
10 my communication of the 3lst inst i
received. Nou say i'm reference Ia Mr.
Rawls letter that - WON saw the let
ter. and that''it was simply an effort Ia
arrest an injustice. which Mr.. Rawls
felt had been done both To you and my
self. append copy of his letter
COPY
TALLAHASSEE. FLA, April 2sth. 1851.
MY DEAR SIR As one of the parties
present at the interview between your
self and Gov. BloXham. | will say i'm JUS
tICe to YOU that no reference whatever
was made To- - 'BloNham's treache"y." as
- stated 10y Watcher in the Times
CHiOH. am unable Ia find out from
whom Watcher obtained the informa-
Ai''iis w Niii fihhfNth Ib fldNt llit'
statement corrected in tomorrow 4,
Times Union.
Yours truly. W. \. RAwI.S.
To Gov. Geo. +. Drew. Jacksonville.
Fla.
You then say i'm your letter. II now
pronounce each and every one of your
material charges absolutely untrue. and
intimate that il is my duty to furnish the
proof of them. but You neglect To state
which you regard as | material" | re-
gard the objections have to Won as the
representative of the State i'm the United
States Senate. as all material to the point
al issue. and while. i'm my opinion, il
would he highly proper for YOU To ex-
plain your actions in the matters where
IN have objected, as you are seeking
political preferment at the hands of the
people of the state, | can see no reason
why | should object to giving the proofs
on which base my objections To YOU.
have objected To YOU. first. ON the
ground of the Disston sale. wherein YOU
sold four million acres of land at twenty
five cents per acre. | have stated that |
thought this sale was unnecessary mas
much a. there had already been sale
made of one million acres at forty cents
per acre, which had to be ignored 10y YOU
in order To carry out YOUR trade with
Disston and Company. In proof of this
quote from the testimony of Mr.. =. \.
Swami. taken before "A master appointed
10y the United States Circuit Court for
the Northern District of Florida. i'm the
suit of Mr. Swami for compensation for
services rendered i'm effectng the sale to
Little and Associates. On pages - and
- he says:
''On May 2i. 1881. the associates of Mr..
Little referred to above. met me and con
cluded the purchase of | 900. 900 acres of
land, and agreed to make "A deposit of
800. 900 about the eth of May, by which
time they expected | would receive a
telegram from the trustees approving
the sale. Immediately on the receipt of
the last mentioned exhibit, | went to the
office of Mr.. Little and from thence to
the law office of johnson. Condine and
Co, where met the gentlemen compris
lac syndicate. and. having received
no answer To my telegram of the cath of
May To the Board of Trustees, disapprOv-
ing the sale to Little and associates. |
entered into written contract and re-
ceived from them the sum of SlOO. 900 in
certified bank checks; these checks were
the cash payment required by me Ia De
made. being twenty-five Ter cent. of the
purchase money.
With the foregoing testimony before
me | cannot doubt the fact that the sale
becomes stronger when the fact that the
Trustees allowed Mr.. Swami x20. 900 as
of his suit - taken into con-
If he had sold no land he
was not entitled to any compensation.
and as the above named sum was paid
him tsee report of the Treasurer of the
fund for 1881 | ann forced to the con
clusion that they admitted that the sale
had been made. As to the benefit To the
II. =. l.
the Disston sale. have no doubt but
good has resulted, but | see no reason to
doubt why equally a. good results should
not have followed If the sale To Little
and associates had been allowed Ia stand
! know Mr. Little; he visited Tallahassee
during INV administration. and met the
Board OF Trustees there. having the same
object i'm view: he came home with me
and laid his plans fully before me.
He contemplated bringing out from
Canada and the North large mum
them on the lands he bought. In NV
Judgment. this would have resulted more
to the advantage Of the State than il
does Ia hold the land for fancy price,
A. il now being done. and | have no
loubt he would have taken hold of the |
enterprise with a great deal of energy.
No one can doubt with this evidence be- |
ID.
associates would have proven more adj |
To the State than the sale to |
he Disston Company has been, as there |
would have enough money come into the |
'und 10 have relieved the Nose claim; the |
of that estate tNoSeb had |
his willingness to compromise |
his claim. which was afterwards pur- |
.ha-ed by another syndicate twhen the |
act became public that the Disston sale |
vas about To be made at sixty cents on |
he dollar but was turned into the State |
II its face value with interest added. |
With this statement ! will dismiss the |
Disston sale.
Nv second objection 10 YOU as our |
United States Senator. l. in reference to |
he charter of the International Railroad !
and Steamship Company, wherein you |
To them that the company |
would receive certain lands, amounting |
20 eight or nine million acres, when you
as well as others who were at all familiar
with the matter. knew there were no
ands in the possession Of the Board of
Trustees that could have been applied To
the grants represented by you as accru-
ng to that company. In proof Of this, /
quote from your message Of January :,
1883. page -.
Under such circumstances, the Board
Df Trustees were fortunate in securing
purchaser. and on June l. 1881, sale
was consumated TO Hamilton Disston, OF
of four million acres for
Jne million dollars. Successive Legisia-
lures had granted away every acre OF
swamp and overfiowed lands TO various
Had there been no debt,
the lands were already granted away, or
had the Board have sold one acre even